ENGRAVING 

and 

ENGRAVERS 


WILLIAM  FA  I THORN 

Reproduced,  from  Portrait 

National  Portrait  Gallery,  London,  Eng. 


ENGRAVING 

AND 

ENGRAVERS 

OLD  AND  NEW 


BY 

GEORGE  HEBARD  PAINE 


1922 

THE  FAITHORN  COMPANY 

CHICAGO 


PRESS  OF  FAITHORN  COMPANY 
CHICAGO.  U.  S.  A. 


“A  ‘ Faithorn  Sculp sif  is  a charm  to  save 
From  dull  oblivion  or  an  early  grave” 


CO  WROTE  Thomas  Flatman 
^ in  the  Year  of  Grace  1674, 
under  a portrait  engraved  by 
William  Faithorn,  the  elder,  who 
stood  at  the  head  of  his  art  in 
England  during  the  reign  of 
Charles  the  Second. 

Those  were  desperate  times  for 
artists,  and  Faithorn,  a mere  boy 
studying  under  Peake,  joined  his 
master  in  fighting  for  the  hopeless 


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cause  of  Charles  the  First,  there- 
by suffering  capture  and  a long 
imprisonment  in  Aldersgate. 
While  there  he  practiced  drawing 
and  engraving  until  released, 
whence,  journeying  to  France,  he 
studied  with  some  of  the  greatest 
artists  of  that  land,  learned  the 
use  of  colors  and  perfected  himself 
in  the  French  language.  His 
temporary  banishment  therefore 
proved  a blessing  in  disguise  since 
it  induced  a culture  much  greater 


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than  was  common  then,  even  to 
people  of  great  wealth. 

All  of  this  counted  powerfully 
in  Faithorn’s  future  work  which, 
in  its  turn,  was  a strong  factor  in 
raising  the  standards  of  English 
art,  hitherto  of  an  extremely  low 
character.  Van  Dyck,  it  is  true, 
had  been  persuaded  to  cross  the 
Channel  and,  while  in  England,  had 
painted  many  beautiful  pictures. 
But  there  were  no  museums  or 
galleries  in  those  days,  hence  the 


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mass  of  the  English  people  were 
without  a suspicion  that  great 
works  of  art  existed.  Royal 
palaces  and  the  halls  of  the  nobility 
were  rich  in  treasures  brought 
from  France,  Italy  and  Spain,  but 
they  could  be  seen  only  by  royalty, 
the  nobility  and  their  retainers. 
Unfortunately,  before  the  love  for 
beautiful  things,  which  Charles  and 
Henrietta  attempted  to  introduce, 
was  able  to  gain  a foothold,  came 
the  Civil  War,  came  Cromwell, 


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came  the  psalm -singing  puritan 
with  death  or  disaster  to  all  that 
was  graceful  or  ornamental  in 
British  life. 

“One  swallow  does  not  make  a 
Summer,”  nor  could  the  transient 
visit  even  of  a Van  Dyck  create 
an  artistic  atmosphere  among  the 
Roundheads  who  “pigged  it”  near 
the  Court  of  St.  James.  But  upon 
the  restoration  of  the  Stuarts  in 
the  person  of  Charles  the  Second, 
better  conditions  prevailed,  and 


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Faithorn  came  into  his  kingdom 
also.  From  the  moment  of  his 
return  he  seems  to  have  been 
employed  constantly  in  producing 
portraits  and  other  pictures, 
largely  of  religious  subjects,  for 
the  nobles  of  the  court  and  the 
rich  merchants  of  London  who 
began  experiencing  a feeling  of 
security,  unknown  before  then 
during  nearly  the  whole  period  of 
English  history. 

It  is  difficult  to  make  any 


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comparison,  with  what  was 
regarded  as  the  perfection  of  its 
time,  without  incurring  the  risk  of 
appearing  disrespectful,  yet  truth 
is  mighty  and  must  prevail — the 
engraver  of  today  has  a choice  of 
methods  at  command  which,  if  he 
could  see  them,  would  drive  a 
seventeenth  century  predecessor 
delirious  with  astonishment ! Half  - 
tones,  photogravures,  zinc  plates, 
color  processes;  the  list  is  almost 
an  endless  succession  of  technical 


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terms.  But  photography  enters 
into  nearly  all  if  not  absolutely 
every  process,  with  such  utter  suc- 
cess that  of  all  the  contemporary 
wood,  steel  or  copper  engravers  of 
pictures  who  were  so  distinguished 
a few  years  ago,  only  two  or  three 
are  at  work  today.  Truly,  as  Frith 
said  in  his  autobiography:  “photo- 
graphy, is  the  foe-to-graphic  art! 
Quite  so  but  equally  it  has  proved 
to  be  almost  the  whole  ancestry 
of  the  printing  art. 


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The  date  of  William  Faithorns 
birth  is  not  known  definitely,  but 
he  died  in  1691  and  much  of  his 
best  work  was  done  in  the  years 
just  before  and  immediately  follow- 
ing 1660.  Here  and  now,  precisely 
two  and  a half  centuries  later, 
the  old  name  lives  in  Chicago, 
associated  with  the  old  art  by  one 
of  his  few  descendants. 

Beginning  simply  as  printers. 
The  FAITHORN  Company  soon 
found  it  impossible  to  reach  that 


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perfection  for  which  they  aimed, 
without  a complete  equipment  for 
the  production  of  a book  in  its 
entirety — type,  engravings,  press- 
work  and  binding.  But  of  these, 
the  engravings  presented  the 
greatest  difficulty  when  it  was  at- 
tempted to  have  them  made  by 
others,  owing  to  the  delicate 
relations  which  exist  between  the 
illustrations  and  the  printed  mat- 
ter of  a perfect  book.  It  would 
be  tiresome  to  recite  all  of  the 


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disappointments  encountered  in 
dealing  with  various  outside  en- 
gravers, leading  finally  to  the  deci- 
sion which  assumed  material  form 
in  the  present  plant. 

For  this  pamphlet,  at  which 
you  are  now  looking,  even  the 
type  itself  was  manufactured,  the 
frontispiece  was  engraved,  the 
printing  was  done  on  the  presses 
and  the  pages  were  bound,  wholly 
within  the  establishment  of 
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